Woman passes driving test aged 79

A woman has passed her first driving test in decades at the age of 79.

Olwen Bursua, based in Henley-on-Thames, recently moved back to the UK from the US to help care for her brother, but found she needed to be on the road to assist with hospital appointments and other errands.

She last passed the UK test when she was 17 and had to relearn the examination with the help of Deen Ameer from Henley Driving School. She passed her latest test on her first try without clocking up a single fault.

She told the BBC: "I'm a much better driver for it. We all think we can drive don't we? We all think we're really, really good at it, and we're not."

She added: "To learn to drive was not difficult. To actually pass one's test, that was the hard part for sure."

Olwen said she could now get her 86-year-old brother to and from hospital and share the caring load with other local family members.

She has a bus pass but found the services did not always match her needs, which was another motivation to get her UK licence back.

Deen, who has been a driving instructor in Oxfordshire and Berkshire for more than eight years, teaches students usually in the 17 to 25 age range.

He also offers refresher lessons for people in their 70s and 80s, though the oldest person he helped pass a test was 59.

Deen said he had been amazed by the positive response to Olwen's story after he shared it on his social media account, and hoped other older people would be inspired by her attitude to get behind the wheel.

He said: "It's not often I come across people who have to do their driving test quite late but... [for anyone] putting their driving off because they think that it's too late... she's just an inspirational story that age is just a number."

Olwen said she was enjoying being back on the road, but found UK drivers less courteous than those in California, Florida and Chicago where she had been driving in recent decades after moving to the US to pursue a career in animation.

She will celebrate her 80th birthday in September, surrounded by the family and friends she is reconnecting with.

She said she "loves, loves, loves driving" because "it's just so much fun", and was enjoying a renewed sense of freedom on four wheels.